Heated dies may be used to compression mold complex, high strength fiber reinforced thermoplastic parts. A thermoplastic charge is placed between the dies and compressed using high pressure to form the parts. At least one of the dies may include tooling features that are imparted to the part during the molding process.
There is sometimes a need to mold small quantities of parts for prototyping or other purposes. In some cases, the parts may have only minor differences in shape and/or dimensions, but these differences may require that separate dies be individually fabricated for each unique part. Since the dies are normally fabricated from steel or aluminum, the tooling effort required to make separate dies for each unique part can be costly and time consuming.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device and related method for compression molding parts having similar features using a single die having a fixed size and shape. There is also a need for a method of compression molding a family of parts using a single die which minimizes lead times for adapting molding equipment to produce different parts.